The Best Wild Rice Pilaf
Prep
15m
Cook
50m
Total
65m
Bigly says
Listen. We are doing wild rice today and I need to clear something up because the truth has been buried under a hundred years of polite confusion. Are you ready? Wild rice is not actually rice. It's a GRASS. It's the seed of a grass. Look it up. I had people look it up. They came back, they said 'Bigly, you're right, again, somehow, like always' — and I said yes, I know, that's the job. The wild rice people knew this the whole time and they let everybody keep boiling the stuff into mush. A scandal.
This pilaf, though — this Bigly pilaf — is the GREATEST wild rice pilaf in the history of wild rice pilafs. Nutty. Toasty. Each grain separate, each grain doing its job, like a little disciplined squad of grains — organized, READY, on time. Most so-called experts just dump rice in water and walk away. Walk AWAY. From the rice. Like the rice is going to take care of itself. That's not how rice works. That's not how anything works. Rice needs ATTENTION. Rice needs LEADERSHIP.
My grandmother made a pilaf like this — tough woman, sharp eyes, she'd whack you with a spoon if you tried to dump the rice in raw — and she said 'you TOAST it first or you have wasted my time.' She lived to be 96. Could be a coincidence. Probably not. The Ojibwe of the Great Lakes have been harvesting wild rice from canoes for centuries, knocking the grain off the stalks with sticks, parching it themselves, an art form — and then some chef on TV dumps it in a pot with a sad little carrot and calls it a day. Embarrassing. We are going to do BETTER. We are going to honor the rice. We are going to layer the flavors, we are going to add mushrooms and pecans and dried cranberries and a splash of sherry vinegar because the French got the vinegar right, fine, I'll say it. And we are going to make a pilaf you will remember on your DEATHBED. Nobody disputes this.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cupswild rice blend(a true blend with wild rice, brown rice, and red rice — not just brown rice pretending)
- 3 cupslow-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 3 tbsp, dividedunsalted butter
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 1 mediumyellow onion, finely diced
- 2 stalkscelery, diced
- 8 ozcremini mushrooms, sliced
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1 tbspfresh thyme leaves
- 1bay leaf
- 1.25 tspkosher salt
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 1/4 cupdry sherry or white wine(optional but lifts everything — splash it in like you mean it)
- 1 tbspsherry vinegar
- 1/3 cupdried cranberries
- 1/2 cuptoasted pecans, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cupfresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tsplemon zest
Steps
- 1
Rinse the wild rice in a fine-mesh strainer under cold water until the water runs mostly clear. Drain well.
- 2
Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the drained rice and toast, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until the grains smell nutty and look glossy.
- 3
Pour in the broth, add the bay leaf and 1/2 tsp salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover tightly, and simmer for 40-50 minutes, until the grains are tender and most have split open. Different blends cook at different rates — check at 35 minutes.
- 4
While the rice cooks, heat the remaining 2 tbsp butter and the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the diced onion and celery with 1/4 tsp salt. Sauté for 5-7 minutes, until softened and starting to color.
- 5
Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes, until the mushrooms have released their liquid and started to brown.
- 6
Add the garlic, thyme, remaining 1/2 tsp salt, and black pepper. Cook for 1 minute more, until the garlic is fragrant.
- 7
Pour in the sherry or wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the liquid has mostly evaporated.
- 8
When the rice is done, drain off any remaining liquid and discard the bay leaf. Add the rice to the skillet with the vegetables.
- 9
Stir in the sherry vinegar, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, parsley, and lemon zest. Toss gently to combine. Taste and adjust salt. Serve warm.
One more thing
This is the side dish that ends the argument at your holiday table — and there is always an argument, somebody is mad about the gravy, somebody is mad about the cranberry sauce, somebody is mad about who didn't come this year — but you put this pilaf on the table and the room goes QUIET. People take a bite. They look at each other. They forget what they were mad about. The pilaf RESETS the family. The pilaf is the peacekeeper. The pilaf is doing work the diplomats couldn't even do. Tremendous.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Best Wild Rice Pilaf.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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